Bavarian heavies - Arco

The cuirrasiers are finished, so I popped up to the painting table and grabbed a couple of pictures this morning before work, to share with you..

They've been painted to represent the Bavarian Kuirassier regiment Arco and will be brigaded with their colleagues from the Weickel (or Weidel) regiment that I painted previously... the graphic to the left was their regimental flag (from the excellent Warflag site)..

Web research on the regiments in foreign service is always a little more difficult but from what I understand the regiment was named after one of their most famous colonels, Jean Baptist, Comte d'Arco...


Wikipedia (and there's not a lot else I could find on the web) advises me he was a field marshal in the service of the Electorate of Bavaria during the War of the Spanish Succession. He entered the Bavarian army in 1672, but three years later changed to the Imperial service (his father was in disgrace at court).

In 1683, he returned to Bavarian service as colonel of a regiment of cuirassiers (my assumption is that this was this regiment)


He had a bit of a checkered military career after this - he did well at the Battle of Vienna (1683), and the recovery of Belgrade(1688).

Upon the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, he was recalled to the field, and promoted field marshal in 1702, but he was in charge of the Franco-Bavarian army at the Battle of Schellenberg (July 2,1704) and his army was pretty well nigh on totally destroyed (the regiment were present at this engagement).

He (and they) survived to rejoin the main Franco-Bavarian army for Blenheim, where he was in command of the Bavarian cavalry. He put up a good fight here against Eugene, but was forced to retreat after Marlborough's attack destroyed the French on the right.

He had another cavalry command at Ramillies, and eventually died in 1715 - honoured as a Marshal of France by the French because of his continued support of their interests while in the service of Bavaria.